i8g8. 



GARDENING. 



.*5 



It is well known that spring bulbs, 

 pitonies, lilacs, etc., are no longer profit- 

 able to the average grower for the whole- 

 sale market, while if they could be 

 hastened even a few days there would be 

 a good demand with fair prices. 



CHEMICAL ANALYSIS OF PLANTS flb AN IN- 

 DICATION OF FERTILIZERS REQUIRED. 



One would naturally suppose that a 

 careful chemical analysis of the plant, 

 roots, stems, leaves and flowers— would 

 be an excellent indication of the relative 

 proportions of lime, phosphorus, potash 

 and nitrogen to be applied as manure. It 

 has been an accepted fact however, 

 among scientists, that such is not the 

 case. Some experiments at Wye, Eng- 

 land, noted in the Gardeners' Chronicle 

 show the fallacy of this idea very clearly. 



Dandelion plants werecarefully selected 

 from different soils, washed, dried and 

 analyzed, for lime and phosphoric acid. 

 Lime was found to vary from 12.8 per 

 cent, to 4-8.8 per cent, of the total ash of 

 the different plants and phosphoric acid 

 varied from 2.5 per cent, to 10 per cent, 

 of the ash. 



The conclusion reached is that the 

 analysis if anything, shows more as to 

 the needs of the soil than the require- 

 ments of the plants; that is to say, the 

 plant will take an excess of the element in 

 the soil which exists in greatest quantity 

 and most available conditions, and a 

 much less amount of that element which 

 is deficient in quantity or not so available 

 in form. 



Analyses of the soil have also been 

 shown to have little value in determin- 

 ing what manures to apply and the 

 grower must depend on experiment with 

 each soil to give him the required informa- 

 tion. X. 



FUNGUS DISEASES OF HOLLYHOCKS. 



In 1896 a row of hollyhocks was set in 

 the plant hospital for a study of the dis- 

 eases that of late years have attacked 

 this plant. During 1S97 the plants were 

 sprayed with various compounds, Bor- 

 deaux being among the number. The 

 leaf spot caused by the fungus Cercospora 

 alth&ina Sacc. was the first to appear 

 and it increased upon the untreated 

 plants until the close of the season. Upon 

 the sprayed plants it did only a small 

 amount of damage. The leaf spot is 

 quickly recognized by the angular spots, 

 which at first are small and brown, but 

 increase in size and become ashy white in 

 the center with a dark border. The cen- 

 ter of the spot sometimes falls away 

 leaving the leaf full of irregular "shot 

 holes," and the foliage thus badly affected 

 drops, leaving the hollyhock stems bare 

 for the lower portion 



There is another fungus disease of the 

 hollvhock that is ciuite common in some 

 grounds. This is called a leaf blight and 

 is due to Plirllosticta althxina Sacc. It 

 differs greatly in its destructive work in 

 the hollvhock from the cercospora above 

 mentioned. Instead of the numerous 

 angular specks and spots the fungus 

 attacks and destroys the whole of the 

 tissue of the area infested and may 

 involve a spot as large as a half dollar 

 and the blighted portion becomes dry 

 and breaks away leaving large holes with 

 a ragged outline. This leaf blight of the 

 hollyhock is checked by spraying with 

 the Bordeaux mixture. 



There is a disease of the hollvhock that 

 has proved quite destructive to seedlings 

 in the greenhouse. This appeared in 

 several propagating establishments about 



ten years ago, and was so serious that 

 some firms gave up this crop and only 

 within the last year or two are they tak- 

 ing up hollyhocks again. A grower only 

 a short time ago told me that the only 

 successful way for him was t< i mi ive away 

 from the trouble, that is, he grew his 

 hollyhocks several miles from the old 

 houses and only brought them home to 

 fill orders. This is a valuable, practical 



HOLLYHOCK RUST 



hint to all who are seriously menaced by 

 destructive fungi. 



The fungus in question is an anthrac- 

 nose due to the fungus Colletotrichum 

 ahhxae South. It attacks the leaves, 

 either the blade or veins, and frequently 

 the leaf stalk is destroyed by it. The 

 stems do not escape and are badly- 

 blotched by the fungus. A blackened and 

 shriveled appearance of the hollvhock 

 plant is a suggestion that this fungus is 

 at work. This fungus has never yielded 

 successfully to spraying so far as the 

 writer has observed. 



The last fungus disease of the hollyhock 

 to be considered, and the one most to be 

 dreaded, is a genuine rust, due to the fun- 

 gus Puccinia malvacearum Mont. It is 

 easily recognized by the orange blotches_ 

 upon the leaves and the globular masses 

 of spores of a brown color usually upon 

 the under side of the leaf, but may also 

 appear upon the stem, petiole or even the 

 parts of the flower. From observations 

 made upon it within the past few weeks 

 the rust evidently remains over the win- 

 ter in the tuft of leaves formed in autumn 

 that cluster close to the ground. The 

 spores produced by these quickly germi- 

 nate and spread the disease. 



As a precaution all the autumn leaves, 

 when rust is found, should be gathered 

 and burned. Spraying with Bordeaux 

 will help to keep the rust in check as 

 experiments at the plant hospital show- 

 The accompanying engraving shows a 

 view of a portion of a rusted hollyhock 

 leaf with all the parts several times 

 magnified. The rust spots are circular. 

 Byron D. Halsted. 



ered with a metallic case, except the bot- 

 tom, which is not covered. Presumably 

 the fertilizer is in a slowly soluble form. 

 In use the cartridge is pressed into the 

 soil and the fertilizer gradually dis- 

 solved by the wateringand carried to the 

 roots of the plants. 



So far the invention would seem to be, 

 like jadoo, a pleasing and harmless thing 

 enough; but M. Truffaut puts forth some 

 remarkable claims for it. By repeated 

 chemical plant analyses he has succeeded, 

 so he says, in finding the exact fertilizer 

 requirements of a large number ot plants 

 and is prepared to furnish cartridges war- 

 ranted "to just fill the bill" if you will 

 only give him tile nanieof the plant. For 

 instance, the formula lor Asparagus tenu- 

 is*imus is nitrogen, 13.4%; phosphoric 

 acid, 8%; and potash 5.8%, while for 

 pelargoniums it is si;', nitrogen, 8.6% 

 phosphoric acid and 8'/f potash, and so 

 on through a long list. Xo doubt M. 

 Truffaut's cartridges are very good in 

 their way, but we are compelled to smile 

 audibly at his long list of special formulas. 



All of these "horticulture made easy" 

 inventions, remind us of the small boy 

 with the pin hook and the hickory pole 

 and how often his string of trout out- 

 weighs that of the dude with the fancy 

 outfit. The moral of this is that the 

 "know how" counts foragreat dealmore 

 than the "where with." X. 



FERTILIZER CARTRIDGES. 



An ingenuous Frenchman, M. Georges 

 Truffaut, has prepared and placed on the 

 market a very novel method of applying 

 fertilizers to pot plants. The fertilizer is 

 compressed into cartridge shape and cov- 



CUTTING OFF SEED PODS. 



But few persons know how greatlv it 

 benefits a flowering plant to cut off all its 

 decaying flowers instead of permitting 

 them to go to seed. Practice has re- 

 peatedly demonstrated that it is a greater 

 tax on a plant to perfect seed than it is 

 to produce its flowers. Both flowering 

 and. fruiting are exhaustive processes, the 

 latter, however, is much the greater of 

 the two A 'a miliar instance may be ob- 

 served in the case of annuals in pots. If 

 the plants are prevented from flowering 

 their annual nature is dropped and thev 

 live on until the next season, or to a 

 later period until flowering is accom- 

 plished. 



Gardeners who grow plants for exhibi- 

 tion purposes allow of no e .rlv flower- 

 ing. Buds are picked oft" as they appear. 

 To accomplish its flowering the plant 

 pushes out more growth to bear buds, 

 which it would not do were flowering 

 permitted. Fuchsias when left to them- 

 selves flower while yet small plants, hence 

 are often the subject of the disbudding 

 described, so as to have larger specimens 

 of them for exhibition purposes. And 

 out of doors theorchardist does the same 

 with his fruit trees. A newly planted one 

 is not allowed to flower because he knows 

 it cannot sustain both flowers and 

 branches, and he wants the latter the 

 most. When it conies to frui'ing the 

 drain on the tree is enormous. Should a 

 weakly fruit tree be permitted not only 

 to flower, but to fruit also, it is almost 

 death to it, and in many cases trees are 

 killed outright by it. 



The common silver or white maple fur- 

 nishes an admirable illustration of what 

 a drain fruiting is upon a tree. Xear my 

 house are some half dozen of them, and I 

 have often been grertly interested in 

 watching their behavior in earlv spring. 

 As is known, this maple flowers early, 

 the buds swellingand bursting verv often 

 before the late frosts have altogether dis- 

 appeared. Sometimes one or more of the 

 trees will have their flowers frozen, while 

 the others, opening a day or two later, 

 escape. From this or some other cause 

 nearly every season finds some in fruit 



